Sat 15 Dec • 70th Anniversary Celebration Special matinee

On Saturday 18 December 1937, a "super cinema in miniature", the Classic, opened in Dalston. Over the following years, the Classic changed hands several times but is still standing as Hackney's last remaining cinema, better known since 1979 as the RIO CINEMA. Retaining all its Art Deco charm, it is Grade II listed by English Heritage. To commemorate this anniversary, the Rio Cinema is staging a special celebration, free for Friends of the Rio, complete with seasonal treats and surprises. This extraordinary event will recreate the same programme of films shown on that opening night 70 years ago.

The Live Ghost (U)
(US 1934) dir. Charley Rogers 21m. Digital
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Walter Long.
When a grumpy sea captain (Long) has trouble manning his ship because of rumours it's haunted, he employs Laurel and Hardy to help him hire a crew – but this only adds to his troubles!

+ The Spectacle Maker (U)
(US 1934) dir. John Farrow 21m. igital
Nora Cecil, Harvey Clark, Cora Sue Collins.
A parable about magic glasses set in 17th Century Germany, shot in magical Technicolor.

+ Boys Will Be Boys (U)
(UK 1935) dir. William Beaudine 80m.
Will Hay, Gordon Hacker, Jimmy Hanley, Davy Burnaby.
Dr. Alexander Smart (Hay) is a teacher in prison who, through a forged letter of recommendation, gets himself headmastership at a boy’s public school – and tangled up in an elaborate jewel robbery! This is the first screen appearance of Hay in his famous schoolmaster role.

Adm: £6/£5 Concessions/free for Friends of the Rio

Sat 12 Jan • Kino Polska presents

THE WEDDING (15) 2.15 & 11.15pm

(Poland 2004) dir. Wojciech Smarzowski 109m. Subtitles. Digital.
Marian Dziedziel, Iwona Bielska, Tamara Arciuch.

The happiest day of a young couple‚s life is turned upside down in this madcap adventure that took the Polish box-office by storm. With a concoction of stolen cars, ex-lovers, awful catering, the police, not to mention an over-indulgence in vodka, Smarzowski reinvents the wedding-disaster movie for a new audience.

£6/£5 Concs matinee, £6.50 Late night show

Sat 19 Jan • Late night show

WHEN THE ROAD BENDS (PG)

(US 2006) dir. Jasmine Dellal 116m.
Fanfare Ciocarlia, Johnny Depp, Esma Redzepova.

An exhilarating portrait of Romany culture that showcases the talents of five Romany bands from four countries on a tour across America in 2001. Their energetic live performances are combined with a look at their communities back home in their respective countries plus documentary footage from their time on the road together.

+ live Balkan Gypsy music from some of the extraordinary players from the Vortex Jazz Club's monthly Gypsy/Eastern European night.

£8/£6 Concs